oVirt 4.2.1 Release Notes

What’s New in 4.2.1?

Release Note

oVirt Engine

BZ 1515635[RFE] Drop uuid_generate_v1() internal implementation and use the implementation from standard PostgreSQL uuid-ossp extension
We have added a requirement for uuid-ossp PostgreSQL extension to be present in engine database. For databases managed by engine-setup this is performed automatically, but non-managed databases (usually remote databases) this needs to be done manually by administrators.

Enhancements

oVirt Engine Metrics

Reason:
Sometimes we want to debug the metrics without setting a remote metrics store.

Result:
Added a “file” output plugin support to the ovirt-engine-metrics setup.
Metrics will be sent to a local file.

oVirt Host Dependencies

BZ 1425032[RFE] Include katello agent in RHV-H NG
Feature: Katello Agent is now installed on RHV hosts during deployment and is included in RHV-H image

Reason: to better integrate with Satellite. Katello Agent provides the list of the installed rpms.

Result: katello-agent is installed and working on RHV / RHV-H Hosts

OTOPI

BZ 1396925[RFE] restructure answer-file behavior
otopi can now optionally write its own answer files, which are simpler to understand, compared to tool-specific files written by existing tools that use otopi. Also functionality is different, imitating more closely the behavior without an answer file and answers provided interactively.

oVirt Engine

BZ 1510578[RFE][hc][dalton] – Set up cgroup for gluster processes in HC mode from the engine
Feature: Restrict the CPU resources consumed by gluster processes

Reason: When running in hyperconverged mode, gluster processes should co-exist with virt processes and not consume all available resources

Result: Hyperconverged mode works as expected

BZ 1511823[RFE] Automatically synchronize networks of cluster with default network provider
Feature:
Add a new boolean property to external network providers is added.
If true, the networks of this provider are automatically and cyclically synchronized to oVirt in the background. This means that all new networks of this provider are imported, and all discarded networks are removed from all clusters that have this external provider as the default provider.

The automatically initiated import triggers the following steps:

– The networks of the external provider will be imported to every data center in the data centers of the clusters that have that external provider as the default provider.

– A vNIC profile will be created for each involved data center and network.

– The networks will be assigned to each cluster that has that external provider as the default provider.

All users are allowed to use the new vNIC Profile.

Reason:
– Support the user to use only external networks for VMs, which are still available
on the external provider.
– Make new networks of the external network provider available more comfortable.

Result:
After the user has enabled the new boolean property, e.g. during creating the external provider, the networks of the external provider are available to be used for VMs without manually importing them.

BZ 1530730[downstream clone – 4.2.1] [RFE] Allow uploading ISO images to data domains and using them in VMs
It is now possible to upload an ISO file to a data domain and attach it to a VM as a CDROM device.
In order to do so the user has to upload an ISO file via the UI (which will recognize the ISO by it’s header and will upload it as ISO) or via the APIs in which case the request should define the disk container “content_type” property as “iso” before the upload.
Once the ISO exists on an active storage domain in the data center it will be possible to attach it to a VM as a CDROM device either through the “Edit VM” dialog or through the APIs (see example in comment #27

BZ 1517832[RFE] make VM names in host details clickable
Feature: Clicking on the VM name in the VM detail view of the hosts, will take you directly to the VM detail view. This allows you to see more details of that VM and make changes easier.

Reason: Navigating between hosts and their associated VMs was difficult. This change allows the user to quickly switch selected entities.

Result: The names of the VMs in the VM grid of the host detail view now contains a link to the VM detail view.

Reason:
Simplify the process of importing a virtual machine that was created out of the data center.

Result:
It is now possible to import an OVA that is accessible to at least of the hosts in the data center into a virtual machine in oVirt.

BZ 1528960Add ability to change maximum timeout for Ansible process executed from engine to finish
The default timeout for Ansible process executed from engine has been enlarged to 30 minutes, because especially upgrading hosts can take significant amount of time. If Ansible process doesn’t finish until this timeout, engine will kill the Ansible process and fail the action.

If even default 30 minutes timeout is not enough, administrators can further enlarge it by creating a new configuration file in /etc/ovirt-engine/engine.conf.d (for example 99-ansible-playbook-timeout.conf) with following content:

ANSIBLE_PLAYBOOK_EXEC_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT=NNN

where NNN is number minutes which engine should wait for Ansible process to finish.

VDSM

BZ 1334982[RFE] Gracefully shutdown Virtual Machines on Host reboot/shutdown.
Previously, in cases of emergency, users were required to shut down the hosts to preserve the data center. This caused running virtual machines to be killed by the systemd process without performing a graceful shutdown. As a result, the virtual machine’s state became undefined which led to problematic scenarios for virtual machines running databases such as Oracle and SAP.
In this release, virtual machines can be gracefully shut down by delaying the systemd process. Only after the virtual machines are shut down, does the systemd process take control and continue the shut down. The VDSM is only shut down after the virtual machines have been gracefully shut down, after passing information to the Manager and waiting 5 seconds for the Manager to acknowledge the virtual machines have been shut down.

BZ 1530730[downstream clone – 4.2.1] [RFE] Allow uploading ISO images to data domains and using them in VMs
It is now possible to upload an ISO file to a data domain and attach it to a VM as a CDROM device.
In order to do so the user has to upload an ISO file via the UI (which will recognize the ISO by it’s header and will upload it as ISO) or via the APIs in which case the request should define the disk container “content_type” property as “iso” before the upload.
Once the ISO exists on an active storage domain in the data center it will be possible to attach it to a VM as a CDROM device either through the “Edit VM” dialog or through the APIs (see example in comment #27

BZ 1429536[RFE] Rebase on gluster-3.12
Feature: oVirt to use the latest released version of glusterfs – 3.12

Reason: GlusterFS 3.12 has many fixes and enhancements that improve experience for oVirt users

BZ 1511234[RFE] Hook for booting from Passthrough Devices
New vdsm hook boot_hostdev has been added. It allows Virtual Machines to boot from passed through host devices such as NIC VFs, PCI-E SAS/RAID Cards, SCSI devices etc. without requiring a normal bootable disk from RHV SD/Direct LUN

oVirt Engine SDK 4 Python

Reason:
Simplify the process of importing a virtual machine that was created out of the data center.

Result:
It is now possible to import an OVA that is accessible to at least of the hosts in the data center into a virtual machine in oVirt.

Known Issue

oVirt Engine

BZ 1523614Copy image to a block storage destination does not work after disk extension in a snapshot in DC pre-4.0
Cause:
qemu-img convert with compat=0.10 and a backing file writes
the space after the backing file as zeroes which may cause the output disk be larger than the LV created for it

Consequence:
Moving a disk that has snapshot created prior to its extension will fail in storage domains with a version older than V4 (i.e., domains in DC 4.0 or older)

Fix:
The move operation of a disk with snapshots created prior to its extension will be blocked with an error message stating the deletion of the disk’s snapshot is required before attempting to move it, instead of attempting to execute the copying and waiting for it to fail.

BZ 1522799 [RFE] – DR: On template\vm registration, vnic_profile_mappings should be under registration_configuration

BZ 1530723 [RFE] Add posibility to specify verbose mode of ansible-playbook execution by engine configuration value
User can specify the ansible-playbook command verbose level, which is used by engine.
To change the value permanentaly create a configuration file 99-ansible-playbook-verbose-level.conf in /etc/ovirt-engine/engine.conf.d/ with following content:
ANSIBLE_PLAYBOOK_VERBOSE_LEVEL=4

BZ 1534227 Confusing logging when cold-moving a disk – the term CreateSnapshot is referenced

BZ 1532040 Webadmin: Available LUNs are grayed out in block domain creation prompt